PAM. 

MISCi 


“  I  do  not  believe  in  foreign  missions. 
They  are  too  far  away.  There  is  too 
much  to  be  done  at  home.  ” 


5 

GREAT 

REASONS 

----  F  O  R  - 

FOREIGN 

MISSIONS 


By 

HENRY  F.  COLEY,  D.D. 


FIVE  GREAT  REASONS  FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 

By  FIENRY  F.  COLBY,  D.D. 

“/  do  7iot  believe  ifi  Foreign  Missions.  F hey  are  too  far  away.  Fhere  is  too  much  to  be  done  at  home. 


WATT  A  T  TTTI  F  MY  F  R  I  F"  N  '  ARE  YOU  SURE  YOU  ARE  NOT  HASTY  IN  TI^AT  CONCLUSION?  HERE  ARE 
v\/Ail  /I  - L  pivE  GREAT  REASONS  WHY  YOU  AS  A  CHRISTIAN  OUGHT  TO  BE  INTERESTED 

IN  FOREIGN  MISSIONS.  KINDLY  READ  THEM  AND  GIVE  THEM  A  FEW  MOMENTS’  THOUGHT  - 


FIRST  OF  ALL 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ' s  own  positive  command. 
Read  it  in  Matthew  28,  19,  “  Go  ye,  therefore, 

and  make  disciples  of  all  nations.”  After  his  resur¬ 
rection  and  before  his  ascension  this  was  the  duty 
he  would  solemnly  impress  upon  his  followers. 
With  it  he  linked  the  precious  promise:  “  Lo,  I 
am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  oi  the 
world.”  Was  the  order  meant  for  those  first  dis¬ 
ciples  only  ?  Did  he  expect  that  they  could  so 
complete  the  work  that  subsequent  generations 
would  have  none  of  it  to  do?  If  this  is  not  bind¬ 
ing  on  us,  are  any  of  his  commands  ?  Can  we 
find  a  single  excuse  for  disobeying  it  which  could 
not  have  been  found  by  the  apostles  ?  What  right 
have  we  to  appropriate  the  promise  and  not  the 
command  ?  And  how  can  we  say  that  we  are  ful¬ 
filling  it  by  simply  trying  to  bring  to  Christ  some 
one  who  is  near  us  ?  It  evidently  implies  a  world¬ 
wide  horizon  for  our  thoughts,  our  sympathies,  our 
prayers  and  our  giving.  The  Duke  of  Wellington, 
it  is  said,  once  replied  to  a  professing  Christian  who 
expressed  doubt  as  to  the  expediency  of  missions: 
“Look  to  your  marching  orders!”  So  we  start 
with  this.  How  can  we  get  away  from  it  ?  The 
Lord’s  own  positive  command  ! 


SECOND 

The  very  nature  of  the  gospel.  The  greatest 
missionary  text  is  “God  so  loved  the  zvorld." 
Note  the  scope  ot  that  word!  Jesus  Christ  came 
to  express  a  compassion  and  offer  a  salvation  limited 
to  no  one  people.  The  necessity  he  came  to  sup¬ 
ply  is  as  wide  as  the  realm  ol  sin  and  sorrow.  If 
he  is  the  Saviour  that  you  and  I  need  he  is  the 
Saviour  for  all  men  everywhere.  The  distinction 
between  “home”  and  “foreign”  melts  away 
under  the  light  that  beams  from  the  Cross.  As 
well  ask  the  rays  that  pour  down  from  the  sun  to 
confine  their  light  and  heat  to  limited  areas  of  the 
earth’s  surface  as  to  try  to  restrain  the  love  of 
Christ  within  local  prejudices  and  preferences. 
The  gospel  from  its  very  nature  must  flow  over 
the  earth,  even  if  Christ  had  formulated  no  Great 
Commission. 

THIK.D 

Our  own  personal  obligations  to  foreign  missions. 
Christianity  did  not  originate  here  any  more  than  in 
India,  China  or  Japan.  It  was  brought  here. 
Are  not  we  as  far  away  from  its  first  field  in  Pales¬ 
tine  as  are  the  heathen  countries  just  mentioned  ? 
The  first  movements  of  Christian  advance  were 


determined  by  the  fact  that  all  roads  lead  to  Rome. 
If  the  world’s  metropolis  had  then  been  to  the 
East  and  not  to  the  West  evangelization  would 
have  moved  eastward  and  not  westward.  Then 
if  India  had  received  the  gospel  thus  before  us 
would  it  not  have  been  India’s  duty  to  send  it  to 
England  and  America  ?  We  have  it  because  the 
first  disciples  and  many  subsequent  generations  of 
believers  obeyed  Christ’s  command.  Shall  we  be 
slack  in  passing  it  on?  Shall  w’e  say,  “It  has 
now  reached  its  final  goal  and  can  rest,  because, 
forsooth,  it  has  come  to  us?  That  would  be  sel¬ 
fishness  indeed.  “  Freely  ye  have  received  ;  freely 
give  !  ” 

FOUR^TH 

The  extent  to  which  God  has  blessed  them.  Take 
for  example  the  missions  of  the  American  Baptist 
Missionary  Union.  There  have  been  in  eighty- 
nine  years  about  300,000  converts  in  the  missions 
established  or  aided  by  the  Union.  These  have 
been  gathered  from  twenty  different  countries. 
There  are  living  today  more  than  222,000  church 
members  under  the  care  of  the  missionaries  of 
the  Union.  Over  113,000  of  these  are  in 
heathen  Asia  and  Africa.  Think  of  the  rescue 
of  all  these  souls  from  the  darkness  of  ignorance 


and  superstition,  the  curse  of  sin  and  the  power 
of  evil!  They  give  as  good  evidence  of  real 
conversion  and  true  allegiance  to  our  Lord  as  con¬ 
verts  in  England  or  America.  Remember  also  that 
this  statement  means  not  merely  so  many  individuals 
brought  to  confess  openly  their  faith  in  Christ  and 
trained  in  the  Christian  life,  but  all  the  multiform 
and  uplifting  agencies  which  go  with  such  a  work, 
namely,  churches,  schools,  theological  seminaries, 
hospitals,  printing  presses,  happy  homes  and  en¬ 
lightened  customs.  Nor  are  the  Baptists  alone  in 
such  successes.  The  missions  of  several  other  de¬ 
nominations  have  been  crowned  with  similar  bless¬ 
ings.  As  to  the  results  of  foreign  missions  in 
general.  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  lately  English  Governor 
at  Bombay,  says  :  “I  assure  you,  that  what¬ 
ever  may  be  told  to  the  contrary,  the  teach¬ 
ing  of  Christianity  among  one  hundred  and  sixty 
millions  of  Hindus  and  Mohammedans  in  India  is 
effecting  changes,  moral,  civil,  and  political,  which 
for  extent  and  rapidity  are  far  more  extraordinary 
than  you  and  your  fathers  have  witnessed  in  modern 
Europe.”  This  is  only  a  specimen  of  the  testi¬ 
monies  that  can  be  produced,  not  from  prejudiced 
heathen  or  hasty  worldly  tourists  but  from  men  in 
high  official  position.  God  has  put  upon  missions 
the  sea!  of  his  peculiar  blessing. 

FIFTH 

Their  reflex  influence.  How  rich  has  this 
been!  We  might  in  advance  expect  this  to  be 
the  case.  A  fire  hot  enough  to  warm  the  distant 
corners  of  a  large  apartment  mi^st  surely  diffuse  a 
genial  glow  in  the  circle  close  around  it.  Who 
are  doing  the  most  work  at  home  for  Christ  ?  Are 
they  not  always  those  who  are  most  deeply  inter- 


ested  in  the  spread  of  the  gospel  abroad  ?  It  is  an 
historical  fact  that  our  denomination  received  a 
wonderful  impulse  in  all  its  life  from  the  beginning 
of  the  foreign  missionary  enterprise  by  Adoniram 
Judson  and  Luther  Rice.  Then  our  churches  be¬ 
gan  to  draw  together  in  closer  unity.  Then  were 
started  many  of  our  schools  and  colleges.  Then 
spiritual  growth  and  numerical  increase  be¬ 
came  at  once  observable.  It  is  by  reaching  forth 
its  branches  that  a  tree’s  centre  of  life  grows 
stronger.  It  has  been  well  said  that  religion  is  a 
commodity  of  such  peculiar  sort  that  the  more  of 
it  we  export  the  more  of  it  we  have  at  home.  Oh, 
when  will  all  Christ’s  people  awake  to  realize  that 
this  is  the  case  !  What  vast  blessings  by  the  work¬ 
ing  of  this  spiritual  law  the  Lord  must  have  in  re¬ 
serve  to  bestow  upon  his  churches  when  they  fully 
respond  to  the  call  of  his  Great  Commission  ! 

And  so  we  have  at  least  these  five  great  reasons  : 
Christ’s  own  positive  command,  the  out-reach¬ 
ing  spirit  of  the  gospel,  our  own  obligations  to 
missions,  the  greatness  of  God’s  blessing  upon 
them,  and  their  beneficent  reflex  influence  on 
our  work  at  home.  Put  these  five  reasons,  my 
friend,  on  the  fingers  of  your  right  hand  ;  then 
shut  your  hand  and  hold  them  fast!  Do  not  let 
them  get  away  from  you!  They  are  sound  and 
strong  and  binding  upon  us  all. 


Literature  Department 
American  Baptist  Missionary  Union 
BOSTON,  MASS. 

3  Ed.  11-03-25M 


Eastern  Printing  &  Engraving  Co.,  287  Atlantic  Avenue,  Boston 


